All Forum Posts by: Annie Li

@Ronn Johnstone In regards to winterization, it's not the same property.  Since we were in the process of evicting tenant, we didn't do winterization for this one. 

@Tim Jacob I agree that screening is critical, but it's not always a transparent process to investors how PMs do screenings.  Even though they do good screenings, there are other ways they can turn off a good applicant, like how flexible they are to schedule showings, if they have multiple ways to accept rent payments (one of my PMs only takes money orders in his office, no exceptions; another PM won't accept move in date other than the first day of each month for easy bookkeeping from his end), or if they charge ridiculous non-refundable pet deposit and pet fees, etc. 

The bottom line is nobody cares about your properties as much as you do, and PMs can find a way to make decent profit on almost anything they do for you, especially the rehab part and maintenance part.     

@Rick H. Because I moved to southern CA just 2 years ago, by that time the housing price has gone way up in the area.  Also, I don't like to buy rentals in any tenant-friendly state.  

After trying a few Indy PMs with no success, I have decided to manage all my properties by myself.  I have done rent to own on my low end properties successfully which won't need too much property management, and a local friend is helping me as the leasing agent and maintenance liaison for my nicer properties, so I'm confident 2017 will be a much better year for me on Indy market.     

@Andrew Johnson Yes, $500 is like nothing comparing to what I've spent on property acquisitions and rehabs in Indy so far.  I do consider it as a lesson learnt but I don't mind spending a few minutes of my time trying to resolve this issue in a way that's fair to both the PM and me, which might be another valuable experience in my opinion.  This PM is already charging me higher maintenance fees ($375 for winterization, $125 for changing a lock, $40 for making a duplicate key, etc.), so I don't feel comfortable eating the whole cost by myself as a result of his negligence.    

@Kim Meredith Hampton The communication with this PM to ask him to provide anything at this point is almost impossible.  I won't even be able to get a correct letter from him to release him as the plaintiff for my property's damage hearing case now.  

@Tim Jacob The screening was done by another PM which I terminated contract with after 3 months with them.  What that PM did will open your eyes and let you appreciate your current PM no matter who that is. :)

@Zach Quick @Andrew Johnson We mutually agreed to terminate our PM contract after eviction is complete, which was before this pipe incident occurred, because I planned to do rent to own lease after eviction but this PM is not interested in anything like that.  His response on the pipes issue is basically "you're 100% completely responsible and I have nothing to do with it" before I even started to propose a solution.  He also said it would only cost him $25 to fix it, so $500 is unbelievable.  Now I'm not sure if I overpaid for the plumbing fix. :(

Thanks for everyone's response.

@Ben Leybovich Yes, I'm another CA investor with tons of money to throw around in mid-west market and being taken advantage of by local PMs, contractors and tenants.  Haha!  
OK, I chose to live in Southern CA where I enjoy most but has very low return on REI, and I understand the risks, headaches and lower returns in reality than on paper to invest out of state. I get that so I'm not expecting 5 star price and service from any of the vendors. I am asking this question here because the amount I owe the PM is more than the amount they got paid so far, therefore, I have the basis for negotiation.

@Andrew S. Thanks for your prompt response.  I feel the same way because it shows some extent of neglect when the PM is managing my property.  

Hello,

I have a question about whether property manger is at least partially responsible for repair costs on bursting pipes due to heating being off after tenant abandoned the property.  The property manager for one of my rentals in Indy claims he is not responsible for that.

This is how it happened:  tenant stopped paying rent in November, 2016 after moving in 3 months later.  We filed eviction on Nov. 18.  My property manager confirmed to me they check the property on weekly basis to see if tenant moves out, if so, they will transfer utilities under their name and make sure heat is on to prevent pipes frozen.  

Tenant shut off utilities on Dec. 1 (I guess they moved out on or before that date).  Property manager changed the lock on or before Dec. 9, but didn't turn on heat until Dec. 17.  When my friend went to check the property, he found there are 4 places that the pipes burst.  I spent $500 to fix them.

The explanation that property manager provided is the gas company won't turn on gas without  electricity being on, and the power company didn't turn on electricity until mid December.  I asked him why it took so long, he said it's on them and he has email communication that they requested electricity to be on in early December.  When I asked him today to forward the email to me, he said he has done that in December and refused to resend it.  

I feel that even though the property manager requested electricity to be on in early December, they should have followed up with the power company if it was not on the next day (the power company "Indianapolis Power and Light Company" has been very responsive and always turned on electricity within 24 hours for my other properties).    

The property manager charges regular monthly management fees when the property is vacant, so I think they should be at least partially responsible for the cost of plumbing fix.

Please kindly share your thoughts or experience, really appreciate it.